Mitt Romney would blow off wind tax credit

Democrats pounced and fiscal conservatives voiced praise over Mitt Romney’s strongest statement yet that he would allow a key wind energy tax credit to expire at the end of the year.

The news made waves Tuesday in Iowa — a state President Barack Obama carried in 2008 — with The Des Moines Register featuring a story on the candidates’ divide over the wind production tax credit on the front page.

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The Obama campaign is using Monday’s campaign announcement to bolster its long-standing claim that the GOP presidential candidate will put fossil fuels above renewables.

“By opposing an extension to the wind production tax credit, Mitt Romney has come out against growth of the wind industry to support 100,000 jobs by 2016 and 500,000 jobs by 2030,” Obama campaign spokesman Adam Fetcher said in a statement, pointing to job estimates touted by the American Wind Energy Association, the wind industry’s lobbying group. “Meanwhile, he supports $4 billion in oil and gas subsidies for companies that have rarely been more profitable.”

But Romney won praise from conservative groups.

“Gov. Romney is absolutely correct to oppose an extension of the tax credit for wind production,” Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said in a statement. “Subsidies for the energy industry distort the marketplace and are simply bad policy. If a market exists for wind production, the private sector will create it, not government.”

Americans for Tax Reform also applauded the decision.

“Only in a world of loan guarantees, mandates and Environmental Protection Agency regulations are Americans forced to employ an inefficient, expensive energy source — wind,” the group wrote Tuesday on its website. “Gov. Romney’s decision to let the wind PTC expire shows that he is serious about cleaning up America’s Tax Code and energy market.”

Obama has been a vocal proponent of extending the PTC for wind, which expires at the end of the year. The president even put extending the PTC on his to-do list for Congress.

The Romney campaign announced Monday that the candidate would allow the wind PTC to expire as scheduled at the end of the year, rather than pursue gradually phasing out the program. While aides had previously said Romney hoped to end the PTC, he had never outlined a specific plan for doing so.

The decision could put Romney at odds with some Republicans in the wind-rich Midwest.

“I’m for reforming it,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said Monday. “You know, I’ve made it very clear that we need to look at phasing it out, I just don’t want to do it overnight.”

Bill Burton, of the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action, pointed to The Des Moines Register story in an email. “For the remaining 99 days until Election Day, the national narrative will be focused on the choice between Pres. Obama and Gov. Romney and who has a better vision to create jobs and improve our economy,” he wrote. “This story exposes a stark contrast: Mitt Romney would cede clean energy jobs to foreign countries, while President Obama would create jobs and boost the economy for the people of Iowa.”

AWEA argued Monday that Romney’s wind stance could be a detriment in Iowa. About 57 percent of Iowa voters — including 41 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of independents — would be less likely to vote for candidates who “do not support expanding wind power generation,” AWEA said in a summary of a July 17-19 survey of 500 likely Iowa voters.

Readers' Comments (14)

OOPS. I stopped giving to Romney's campaign back in 2007 when I first learned that Romney was against Renewable power. He lacks the understanding to be a real leader. Wind power is probably one of the best sources of cheap energy in the world. The industry has come along ways from the days of putting up in-efficient turbines and placing them in areas where the wind only blows 40% of the time.

The facts are that wind farms are expensive to construct and usually cost about $2.5 to $3 million per turbine to buy and construct. The payback period is about 7 years on most wind farms even with a reliability factor of about 50 to 60%. After the ROI, the costs from years 7 to year 25 is practically FREE.

Lets face it folks, we will need Wind, Solar, Nuclear, and fossil fuels to get us through our energy crisis. Shutting out the wind sector which has done a great job of creating JOBS is not the way to go.

These are jobs we need these jobs, we need the energy it produces and we need the Production Tax CREDIT to be extended. It is not FREE Money from the FEDS. It is a TAX CREDIT and not a HAND OUT.

This article failed to point out that even Gov. Branstad and Sen. Grassely, both Republicans, are a bit upset with Romney on this topic. And let's not forget that there are state, local and even federal subsidies for traditional power plants that all taxpayers are on the hook for. Not to mention everyone is on the hook for the long term environmental cost of coal and natural gas carbon emissions. Romney is nothing more than a tool for the old line energy purveyors and their major stockholders ( CEOs).

The problem is that the wind energy field doesn't have the lobbyists or money to get specific tax credits from the government. Large oil and banking companies give millions (over $100million) to campaigns in order to get favorable tax breaks.

The facts are that wind farms are expensive to construct and usually cost about $2.5 to $3 million per turbine to buy and construct. The payback period is about 7 years on most wind farms even with a reliability factor of about 50 to 60%. After the ROI, the costs from years 7 to year 25 is practically FREE.

So what you are saying is they do not need to Government money at all. Glad you pointed that out....

Mitt Romney has come out against growth of the wind industry to support 100,000 jobs by 2016 and 500,000 jobs by 2030,” Obama campaign spokesman Adam Fetcher said in a statement, pointing to job estimates touted by the American Wind Energy Association, the wind industry’s lobbying group.

Lets face it folks, we will need Wind, Solar, Nuclear, and fossil fuels to get us through our energy crisis. Shutting out the wind sector which has done a great job of creating JOBS is not the way to go.